Prospect Food Pantry Needs Help Moving

A local food pantry in Prospect is being forced to relocate. The couple that manages the pantry is asking for your help to build a new home. Richard Patterson has been running the food pantry with his wife since the mid 1990’s. “We started out at the Community Club building up the street here and we were asked to vacate that building,” he says, “they needed it for the Community Club so we moved down here and we’ve been here ever since.”Now, they’ve been asked once again by the town to find a new home. “Two months ago, we were asked to vacate this building,” says Patterson, “the historical society needs the building.”Patterson says the town doesn’t feel the food pantry provides an important service, he disagrees. “I feel it’s very important. We serve 60 or 70 families every month. It’s a good asset for people.”Since they’ve been asked to move again, Patterson says they need to take matters into their own hands, but they need a lot of help. “We decided that we would have to put up our own building and that’s going to cost a lot of money and we’re hoping we can get people to open their hearts and wallets and help us out with this.”Patterson says his attempts to raise money have been successful so far. “We do have a parcel of land that my mother-in-law donated to us so that’s the beginning.” They also have an architectural firm working with them. He says losing this food bank is not an option. “We need this here in town. We have a lot of people from Stockton springs, Frankfort, Swanville, Belfast, Montville, a lot of people come here.”